Bumblebee at Super Hero High

by Lisa Yee

  “I merely opened the dam,” he said, looking proud of himself. “All in the line of duty.”

  For days, Poison Ivy had been gushing about how fantastic her assistant, Jason Woodrue, was with the plants. Her friends had to admit that the foliage looked absolutely lush. Jason’s quick thinking had saved the greenhouse—and earned him a job. At last, Poison Ivy was back to her happy self, with great grades and enough time to spend with her friends. Everyone was in a good mood, especially since the pollen that had been making everyone sneeze disappeared as mysteriously as it had first appeared.

  “It’s weird,” Bumblebee noted.

  “It’s fine by me,” Barda said.

  “But why?” Bumblebee asked. “Pollen. No pollen. Sneezing. No sneezing.”

  “Probably just a fluke of the weather?” Barda ventured. “Or maybe our natural disaster rainstorms washed the pollen away,” she said, though Bumblebee didn’t look convinced.

  “There they are!” Supergirl said, using her super-vision to see past the jungle, the subtropical gardens, and the court of palms.

  Bumblebee squinted. She could see a tall, skinny man in the distance—or was that a tree? As her friends rushed over, Bumblebee hurried along, aware that without batteries fueling her power pack, she couldn’t do nearly as much as the others.

  “For those of you who haven’t met him yet, this is Jason Woodrue,” Ivy said proudly. “Jason, this is everyone!”

  Jason put down the potted plumeriasian lavender he had been tending to. “It’s a ruba hybrid, but I’m sure you all already know that,” he said. His diction was clear and crisp, and his manners were impeccable.

  “Um, I didn’t know that,” Ivy admitted.

  Jason shook his head sadly and adjusted his round wire-rimmed glasses. “Well, you will,” he assured her. “Now that I’m here, this greenhouse will be in tip-top shape, I can assure you of that. It won’t be the shambles it was before.” Poison Ivy seemed to shrink a bit, but Jason didn’t notice. “Does anyone have any questions?” he said. “I know all the answers.”

  “Do you always dress like that?” Wonder Woman asked, pointing to his suit.

  “Yes, Jason Woodrue does,” he said, referring to himself.He was nattily attired in a tailored dark green tweed three-piece suit. The handkerchief in his pocket was made of blue silk, and his crisp pink shirt was complemented by a skinny tie the color of his light green eyes. “Jason feels that it is imperative to always look one’s best.”

  He glanced at Ivy, who self-consciously pushed some of her flowing red hair out of her face. Supergirl bent down to tie her shoes, and Bumblebee brushed some cracker crumbs off her super suit. It had been days since she had had even a smidgen of honey. She had taken to putting peanut butter on everything, but it wasn’t the same.

  “Now, I have a question,” Jason said, looking around.

  “I thought you had all the answers,” said Bumblebee.

  He ignored her and asked, “When does Harley Quinn show up? When is Jason Woodrue going to make his debut on Greenhouse Hullabaloo?”

  * * *

  Later that day, Bumblebee asked Poison Ivy, “How’s Jason working out?” They were walking to Liberty Belle’s class. Both ducked just in time to avoid being hit by Beast Boy flying low as a spotted owl.

  “Great,” Ivy said. “Jason knows everything about plants. He used to be a botany professor!”

  “I think he’s a snob,” said Barda. “Oops! Did I say that?”

  “He’s just extremely confident,” Ivy said, defending her assistant. “Hey, who’s going to watch the show tonight? Now that the pollen problem is gone, I’ll be doing a segment about how talking to your plants makes them, and you, happy!”

  * * *

  Bumblebee tried not to laugh while watching Greenhouse Hullabaloo. Jason Woodrue managed to insert himself in every scene, and was not very subtle about it.

  “When your plants seem sad, you can tell them—” Poison Ivy was saying.

  “You can tell them Jason Woodrue says be happy!” he said, smiling at the camera.

  As the show continued, Beast Boy knocked on Wonder Woman’s dorm door. “Hey, Bumblebee,” he called, “thought I’d find you here. I have an awesome surprise for you!”

  “What?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

  “Oh, just some…HONEY!” Beast Boy said, grinning.

  Bumblebee turned away from the monitor, where Ivy was strolling through a section of the greenhouse. Jason was following so close they kept bumping into each other while he waved to the camera.

  Beast Boy handed Bumblebee a glass jar. “I know you’ve been kinda blue without your honey supply,” he said. “So I made this!”

  “You made this yourself?” Bumblebee asked. She was touched that he would do that.

  “Yep! Try it. It tastes exactly like honey.” Beast Boy looked like he would burst with pride.

  Bumblebee opened the jar and dipped her finger into the golden brown concoction. It felt like honey. It tasted like…

  Beast Boy watched intently. “Well? Well?” he asked. “What did I tell you? Exactly like honey, right?”

  Bumblebee pursed her lips and nodded. “Mmmmmm,” she said. “Mmmmmmmm.”

  “You’re welcome,” Beast Boy said proudly. He turned into a peacock and unfolded a fan of breathtaking emerald-green tail feathers as he strutted out of the room.

  “Does it really taste just like honey?” Batgirl asked.

  Bumblebee waited until she was sure Beast Boy was gone and then gasped, “Water! I need water!” as she tried to wipe the fake honey off her tongue.

  “And because of that, we must make a great impression on our guests!” Principal Waller boomed from the stage. Though the auditorium was large, no microphone was necessary. Behind her, teachers sat in thronelike chairs. Bumblebee looked at Batgirl’s father, Police Commissioner Gordon, who taught the forensics class. How cool was it that Batgirl got to see her dad all the time? Bumblebee made a mental note to call her parents.

  Waller continued, “Remember when you were not yet students here and you toured Super Hero High?”

  Everyone nodded. They did remember. For most of the Supers, it had been their goal since childhood to attend this prestigious institution of learning for super heroes. When Wonder Woman was homeschooled on Paradise Island, she watched and rewatched the recruitment video hundreds of times. For Supergirl, it was her cousin Superman who had suggested she enroll in Super Hero High to learn how to control her powers. And for Katana, upholding the legacy of Samurai warrior super heroes had brought her here.

  Bumblebee leaned forward, soaking up every word Waller said. As a child, she had read all the super-hero fan magazines, poring over them so many times that the pages fell apart. Most of her favorite super heroes had gone to Super Hero High, and yes, even a few super-villains. Bumblebee had just created her super suit and was working on perfecting her shrinking when she heard about Super Hero High Visit Day. She begged her parents to take her. When they finally agreed, she was so excited she couldn’t sleep the night before—or the night after.

  Meeting the legendary principal Amanda Waller and the super-hero students was a wish come true. Young Bumblebee had wondered if she dared to dream to be among their ranks someday.

  “Each of you will be given an assignment,” Waller was saying as she paced the stage. Several students were taking notes. Cheetah and Frost were trading secrets. The Flash and Cyborg were playfully shoving each other while Hawkgirl, who was sitting between them, tried to ignore them.

  Bumblebee focused on the principal. “Some of you will be tour guides; others will help run seminars. There will be a special program for students considering transferring, and we will also have a program for parents, who always have a lot of questions.”

  Bumblebee had to laugh at that. She remembered that her mom a
nd dad had each had a long list of concerns they needed addressed before they allowed her to attend.

  “Achoo!” When Police Commissioner Gordon sneezed, Waller shot him a cool look. “Excuse me,” he mumbled.

  She had begun to speak again when Liberty Belle emitted a series of surprisingly loud sneezes, followed by Coach Wildcat sneezing so violently the room shook. Waller’s steely look caused Crazy Quilt to freeze mid-sneeze. Several students started to snicker. Especially when Mr. Fox started pulling out his handkerchiefs with each oncoming sneeze. Soon the entire auditorium erupted in sneezes.

  “Enough!” Principal Waller demanded. Then a strange look came over her face. Her nose began to twitch, and the harder she tried to hold it back, the more rigid her already-ramrod-straight posture became.

  No one in the auditorium dared to breathe. But when Waller let out a surprisingly dainty sneeze, it was as if everyone was given permission to join in. Soon the room sounded like an echo chamber of sneezes.

  “The pollen must be back!” Bumblebee said to Ivy. “Achoo!”

  Poison Ivy covered her mouth, then let out a series of sneezes. “Achoo! That’s for sure,” she said. “Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”

  Just then, the alarm sounded. Bumblebee looked up onstage. Principal Waller nodded to her. “Save the Day drill! Save the Day drill!” Bumblebee shouted. As Waller’s trusted assistant, it was her job to inform the student body of all events, warn them of impending doom, and alert them to Save the Day drills, as well as the real thing.

  Waller looked at her watch. “Let’s give the teachers a thirty-minute head start for this drill, and then…Supers, go Save the Day!”

  * * *

  As Bumblebee and Beast Boy headed out, they were joined by Batgirl. In sets of three, the Supers were charged with thwarting a natural disaster that the teachers had created. Only, this wasn’t on paper or in the classroom. This time, teachers and staff had placed themselves in actual perilous conditions. It was up to the Supers to use what they had been studying to test their skills and save them.

  Past drills had had teachers in out-of-control vehicles, including cars, trains, rockets, and hover boats. Another had put them in the path of stampeding animals. And yet another had placed them in a forest surrounded by poisonous talking plants and mutant aliens.

  “A tornado is heading straight toward Coach Wildcat!” Beast Boy exclaimed when he read their assignment. “We got this, right, Bumblebee?”

  “Right!” she said happily. “We’ve been working on tornadoes,” she explained to Batgirl.

  “Well, that makes me lucky to be on your team,” Batgirl said. “What are we waiting for? There’s a Wildcat to be rescued!”

  Cyborg, Star Sapphire, and Frost were off to the Swiss Alps to rescue Parasite from an avalanche. The Flash, Cheetah, and Katana were already at Red Rock in Arizona, where Liberty Belle was hiking in the middle of an earthquake. And Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Hawkgirl were flying faster than the speed of sound to get to Red Tornado, who was circling the globe and about to be hit by a meteor shower.

  “According to my coordinates, Coach Wildcat should be in that barn over there,” Batgirl said to Beast Boy and Bumblebee.

  The three had flown to Gowin Town, Ohio, Batgirl using her jetpack, Beast Boy as an eagle, and Bumblebee with her super suit. She knew it was a risk to use her batteries, given the failure in the greenhouse. But Bumblebee had never missed a Save the Day drill, and she wasn’t about to start now. However, once in flight, she noticed that her wings were causing a drag and that she didn’t have the power to fly as fast as usual.

  “Hurry!” Beast Boy kept yelling as they made their way over big cities and small towns, mountains and meadows.

  “I’m trying,” Bumblebee shouted back. She hated that she was slowing the team down.

  The barn was in the middle of an apple orchard. As the Supers neared, the sky darkened. “Looks like it’s going to be six or seven on my tornado Bat-scale,” Batgirl said, adjusting her weather scanner as the three heroes stood on a hill overlooking the old building.

  “What’s that?” asked Bumblebee.

  “It’s my tornado intensity scale from zero to ten, with ten being the most violent,” Batgirl explained. “My electronics measure the velocity of the winds, run it though a database of past tornadoes with similar numbers, then calculate the unique characteristics of the tornado at hand to come up with a number.”

  “Um, that’s what I thought,” said Beast Boy. “Hey! Tornadoes are also called twisters. And the twist is a dance! Who wants to do the twist with me?”

  As he danced, Bumblebee and Batgirl formulated a plan. “We’ll evacuate Wildcat,” Batgirl began.

  “The tornado is coming in fast from the west,” Bumblebee noted. “It’s zigzagging, but if we approach the barn from the east, we may be able to avoid the worst of it.”

  “You on board?” Batgirl asked Beast Boy.

  “I’m on board,” Beast Boy quipped, pretending to surf. “Let’s Save the Day!”

  When the trio headed toward their P.E. teacher, the dark sky began to close in around them. Soon the trees were swaying, branches were whipping around, and apples were flying like projectiles, pelting the Supers.

  “Hello?” Coach Wildcat called out. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but is someone going to help me or what?!”

  Just then, Bumblebee froze as a mammoth rumbling choked the air. The gray tornado coming toward them was gaining speed…and headed directly for the barn. With quick calculations, she knew they had less than three minutes if they were to rescue Wildcat.

  “Inside!” shouted Bumblebee. “NOW!”

  * * *

  The barn was dark and its walls were quaking. “You’re late,” a gravelly voice growled.

  “We’re getting you out of here, sir,” said Bumblebee as she looked for an easy escape. The barn door on the far side was bolted shut. She tried to pry it open, but without the enhanced strength from her super suit, she wasn’t strong enough.

  The sound of apples pelting the barn was relentless. Batgirl turned on her Bat-light. Coach Wildcat was sitting on a bale of hay, frowning.

  “Let’s get this show on the road!” Beast Boy said. “Since that tornado looks like an elephant’s trunk, I can look like an elephant, too!”

  “Stop goofing off,” Bumblebee chided him. “This is serious.”

  “We need to get going fast,” Batgirl yelled. “Come on, Coach, follow us!”

  “Wait!” shouted Bumblebee. The tornado sounded like a train barreling down on them. She covered her ears.

  Suddenly, the roof of the barn flew off. “Take cover!” screamed Bumblebee. “Beast Boy, stay as an elephant and lean up against that combine harvester.”

  The giant farm harvester looked like it weighed thousands of pounds—enough to withstand a tornado if it wasn’t a direct hit, Bumblebee deduced. She joined Batgirl and Wildcat and got between the machine and the elephant as the walls began to shake and the ground beneath them buckled. With a huge whoosh, the barn boards began to splinter and then fly away as Beast Boy’s elephant stood strong and the harvester refused to budge.

  All at once, there was an eerie silence. Bumblebee looked up to find the tornado passing directly overhead. They were now inside a smooth funnel of clouds, with smaller twisters above that twirled and swirled like graceful dancers before breaking free. A blue light lit up the interior of the funnel, and then BOOM! The sun was shining and the sky was blue.

  Beast Boy turned back into a green teen. “Thanks,” Batgirl told him as she stepped over a sea of crushed apples that littered the ground.

  “Thank that harvester. If I didn’t have that to lean on, you’d all be as smooshed as those apples. Applesauce, anyone?” Beast Boy quipped.

  “Be careful where you step,” Bumblebee warned Wildcat.

  “Terribl
e, terrible,” he muttered as he stomped away. “You three were late!”

  Batgirl and Bumblebee looked at each other, troubled. Beast Boy was humming and strolling along. Not much could faze him. That was when Bumblebee tuned in to a sound she hadn’t heard for a while: bees! There were bees in the area! And if there were bees, there must be beehives! And if there were beehives, there must be honey!

  “Let’s follow the sound of the bees,” she cried happily.

  “Let’s go back to Super Hero High,” growled the coach. “I have to write up a report on how the three of you did.” He shook his head. “Not good, not good.”

  “We should do what Coach says,” Batgirl cautioned.

  Bumblebee nodded. Perhaps it was enough knowing the bees were there. But just as she was about to head back to school, she noticed that Coach Wildcat had disappeared.

  All three looked around for him. “Coach, where are you?” Bumblebee called out. Was this another part of the Save the Day drill?

  Beast Boy tapped her on the shoulder and pointed.

  “Coach, what are you doing up in the tree?” Bumblebee asked. She shaded her eyes from the sun.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” he said. “They chased me up here! Now get me down. These bees are angry and about to start stinging!”

  While the team of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Hawkgirl were lauded for a spectacular Save the Day drill rescue of Red Tornado—and for redirecting the meteors that had threatened to pelt him and the Earth—others weren’t as lucky. Batgirl, Bumblebee, and Beast Boy were assigned to write a paper about the tornado rescue, analyzing what had gone wrong and including a plan on how to respond more quickly should that natural disaster happen again.

  Beast Boy was munching on a veggie submarine sandwich. “Hey! You two are much better writers than me, so how about I sit back and let you do your thing,” he said between bites. “Then I’ll sweep in at the end to look it over, and we can all sign the paper.”